That Little Mexican Place - 15 August

That Little Mexican Place (helpfully abbreviated to TLMP) is a cosy, neat little place on Albany Hwy. A sign on the footpath advertising free coffee with every breakfast caught our attention, and in we went. I noted a little dog bowl filled with water near the outside tables. A good sign for this dog-person. The tables are made with thick, wooden tabletops, the chairs are comfortable, there are lovely South American decorations and friendly staff. It's a good place.

For some reason, TLMP was basically empty when we arrived. There was one man who had just finished his breakfast, but otherwise, it was just us. As we ate, a few others arrived and I suspect things got more busy as the morning progressed.

We were at a Mexican place, so it makes sense to order Mexican food, right? Well, I didn't. I liked the look of the Mexican items on the menu, but for some reason I found myself ordering bacon and eggs instead. I turned down the chance of breakfast churro, I must be mad. Anyway, I had bacon and eggs and camomile tea. He had "drowned eggs" - poached eggs in a tomato salsa with potato hash and refried beans with a flat white. The three year old had bacon and eggs and the baby squirmed and wriggled.

Excellent start to the breakfast with the arrival of the tea and coffee (both free). The tea was in a pot. It was leaf tea. As a nice touch there was a small saucer of honey served with the tea as well. It went unused, but it was good to see a restaurant knowing that some people like honey with camomile tea. Good one, that's a happy blogger right there. The coffee was good too.  Our meals arrived. The eggs were cooked perfectly, the bacon was crispy and the toast was OK, but the serving was quite small. The drowned eggs seemed a huge serving, with loads of salsa swimming around a pair of nicely poached eggs and a generous pile of fried potato hash with a little smear of refried beans on top. Tasted good, although he described them as "more different than terrific", but still, difference is good, right?

I noticed a few other customers asked for a few alterations to menu items and the staff were happy to make those changes. The staff member who served us was friendly, prompt and professional, she called the three year old "champ" as well, which appealed to him, at least.

There are some nice touches at TLMP, like being able to order your meal with free range eggs for an additional 50 cents. I would argue that a good restaurant should use free range eggs anyway, but still, many don't mention the origin of their eggs at all. They have a nice range of spicy sauces that you can grab from the counter and they will actually suggest particular sauces for the dish you're having. Nice touch.

So we were happy with our TLMP experience. It all came to about $45, which is cheaper than the other places we'd eaten at so far, nice touches, nice staff, good food and they know how to serve tea.

Score - 4 eggs. We'll be back.

Photos still to come, I promise.